Imelda Staunton will take over as Queen Elizabeth II in the final season of The Crown

The Crown, Netflix’s lavish drama about the life and times of Queen Elizabeth II, will close out its critically acclaimed run after its fifth season, according to Deadline. Apparently, the show was originally intended to run through season 6, but showrunner Peter Morgan feels like it’s approaching a pretty solid stopping point.

I need a moment to gather my feelings. The third season of The Crown was terrific, and it breaks my heart a bit to know that it’s ending early. And we’ll never get to see Harry and Meghan be part of Queen Elizabeth’s life, and that’s just not fair! There’s still so much story to tell!

So far, the Queen has been played by two actors: Claire Foy in seasons 1 and 2, when the Queen was younger; and Olivia Colman in season 3, as she reaches middle age. If all goes well, Colman will return to play the monarch in season 4, but in season 5, actor Imelda Staunton will take over the role.

Staunton is an accomplished, Academy Award-nominated actor with a ton of film, TV, and theater credits to her name. I have no doubt she will crush it as Queen Elizabeth II.

That said, I’m not going to pretend like it won’t be a challenge to get the image of Staunton as the hateful Dolores Umbridge from the Harry Potter movies out of my mind, and it looks like the internet agrees:

They do both love to wear pink, don’t they?

This also brings up the question of what seasons 4 and 5 will cover. I assume they’ll both be pretty Princess Diana-heavy. Pennyworth’s Emma Corrin is taking on that role:

She’s a perfect fit. Absolutely incredible.

Knowing this is in our future makes me feel a little bit better about The Crown ending, but I’m still not ready for it.

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h/t Collider